I arrived at around 7:30 when the 2nd or 3rd local band was playing, right before The Faceless's signing at the record store down the street. So I just hung around until the time for that came and then went over there. I got them to sign a copy of Planetary Duality for me, which is really cool even though Evan and Geoffrey (the new vocalist) were not a part of the album.

I went back to the Whisky to check out the rest of the locals, and it was a grueling wait for the Faceless to finally play. All the locals were pretty boring, except for one band who deserves a shoutout, [URL="http://www.facebook.com/BURNINGATTHESTAKE"]Burning at the Stake[/URL]. They actually got the crowd moving and some nice pits developed. They have some great riffs and the drummer is really talented.

The Faceless took forever to set up and Evan seemed really pissed about something with the setup. Just about every band had problems setting up, and the sound guy kept getting pissed at all the locals telling them to hurry up. Whoever's fault it was, it was pretty annoying. But when they finally played the crowd erupted and so did I, I was waiting for this moment all week.

The new vocalist performed very well. His vocals are very similar to Derek's (in fact I didn't even notice the vocalist change when I heard the pre-production recording of "The Eidolon Reality" until I read about it). He's not really a game changer, like Jason Keyser is for Origin, but he is a fine replacement for Derek and they have not regressed at all with the change. Derek was also upstairs to support his former bandmates.

For those people who have been underwhelmed with the band's enthusiasm/stage presence in the past, that was still the same. The new vocalist had the most energy, while the rest of the band was mainly focused on just playing, not exhibiting much energy. This was not really a problem for me as I was fixated on the vocalist most of the time anyway shouting along every word with him, and I'm a huge fan of the music so just the fact that I was hearing it live again got me going crazy.

The only complaint I have about the show is the short (and predictable) setlist. I love Planetary Duality, so hearing it all live was great, but I would've liked to hear more from Akeldama than just "An Autopsy". Their set was probably about 45 minutes, and for a headlining gig I would expect at least an hour. I'm looking forward to when the new album releases because that will mean more diverse sets for them on future tours. Also the expected shitty drive to LA wasn't too much fun either.

For some reason they had a local band playing after The Faceless, and they pretty much got screwed. Just about the whole floor cleared out after The Faceless finished of course.

This show was definitely worth it for me and I look forward to seeing them on tour again supporting the new album.

jd091

08-19-2011 01:02 PM

Man, all of Planetary Duality sounds pretty sweet. I just wish they would debut a new song other than Eidolon. The albums gotta be nearly written, amirite?

zerkz

08-19-2011 01:31 PM

Geoffrey's previous band is a local tech death metal band around the Pittsburgh area. They are called Kamikabe, and they slay.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjkhnu_BtoE[/url]

xStructualDefect

08-19-2011 01:37 PM

Not really a fan of The Faceless but was about to go to this show just to go but things came up. How was the crowd for them?

NecroRob

08-19-2011 02:15 PM

[QUOTE=srm90;387609]
The only complaint I have about the show is the short (and predictable) setlist. I love Planetary Duality, so hearing it all live was great, but I would've liked to hear more from Akeldama than just "An Autopsy". [/QUOTE]

The only reason I can think of as to why they don't play more from Akeldama is that Michael Keene must not like that album much or something, since I get the impression that he basically is the band. Whatever the reason is it's a shame because that album rules. If they would ever pull out All Dark Graves or Leica I would probably shit myself.

OraclesofAgony

08-19-2011 02:31 PM

[QUOTE=xStructualDefect;387643]Not really a fan of The Faceless but was about to go to this show just to go but things came up. How was the crowd for them?[/QUOTE]

The crowd was great. I didn't see any of the pits because I was at the front fixated on the band but there was a lot of movement in the front and I almost got thrown into the pit at one point.

jd091

08-19-2011 02:36 PM

Oh, I almost forgot:
[SIZE="6"]

SEEEEEVEEEERRRR

THE

[/SIZE]
[SIZE="7"][I][B]SKUUUUUUUUUUULL![/B][/I][/SIZE]

bigguytoo9

08-19-2011 02:43 PM

I saw The Faceless perform all of Planetary Duality back in 2009 w/ SUFFOCATION in Vancouver. It was a fantastic show. I think eventually Suffo/Faceless ended up being touring buddies for a bit.

mastodon421

08-19-2011 03:33 PM

All Of Planetary Duality is awesome. Good to hear that the new vocalist did a good job, I am eagerly awaiting their new album.